Saturday, October 23, 2004

How do advertisers sleep at night?

Since I watch most of my TV via TiVo, I fast forward through most commercials. But sometimes I get caught watching one, and I am nearly always aghast at the total depravity of the message.

Today, I see an ad where a youngish mother is driving her kids to the first day of school. She thinks, maybe they don't want to be seen being dropped off by their mom, so she offers to let them out a block away. "No thanks, Mom." So, they pull up in front of the school, and as her kids exit the vehicle, the cool, tough looking kids in front of the school step back and look at her kids in awe. The camera pans back, and you see that Mom drives a Hummer. The kids' message to Mom: "Thanks, Mom, for spending our college money on this monstrosity so we can impress our incredibly shallow classmates for a few seconds while you use up most of the world's remaining resources driving us to school." Hummer's message to the kids at the school: "Respect your betters who arrive in Hummers." Their message to everyone: "Obscene consumption is the only way to go."